1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the gravity dispensing of liquids from large bottles or drums without the need for a separate vent opening. Additionally, it provides a means for conveniently and securely attaching a cap or other fitting, including a dispensing valve, to a standard crown-top bottle neck.
2. Description of Prior Art
The use of bottled water, packaged in standard bottles of 3, 5, and 6 gallon sizes is common throughout the world. Various dispensing systems are currently in use, including coolers and room temperature units wherein, typically a bottle is unsealed and inverted to rest vertically atop a reservoir. Atmospheric pressure on the open reservoir surface balances a vacuum above water in the bottle and prevents overflow. Faucets of various designs are used to dispense water from the reservoir, whose pressure is limited by vertical head between faucet outlet and open surface.
Another dispensing system employs a tilting rack into which a bottle is placed upright and swung around a horizontal pivot line somewhere near its center. This unit cannot remain balanced as the contents of the bottle are consumed, as the center of gravity is not constant. Dispensing rate is difficult to control from the typically large bottle mouth.
The commonly used dispenser system with open reservoir has been criticised for its unsealed condition when in use, and consequent airborne contamination; new systems have been advanced wherein the bottle cap remains in place while the inverted bottle is lowered into an apparatus which pierces the cap and seals around the bottle top, with a filtered vent to atmosphere. Disadvantages to these systems are added complexity and cost to the dispenser and to the bottle capping operation, as well as contamination of the reservoir by a cap which has been handled before insertion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,856 discloses a dispensing system wherein a vented valve is clamped to the container mouth, whereupon the container is inverted into a supporting structure. The present invention is of a similar system but has three important advantages: 1. the threaded clamp of the present invention is easier to use and conforms to a wider range of bottle necks, and 2. a sensitive and fragile vent check valve is superceded in the present invention by a positive, internal, manually operated vent valve, and 3. production cost for the present invention is inherently lower.